Rise from Ashes
by Vibrant-Blue
Summary: Dragons, Wars, and bad toilet systems. What have I got myself into? I'm now in the land of Skyrim, and instead of over 300 hours of game play its my life, literally! Join me as I rise from the ashes of a village and make my mark on the realm of Tamriel! Warning! This is a Self Insert! R&R if you enjoy it! Due to Exam's update will be slow or non existent for next few months!
1. Didn't see that one coming

**Skyrim: SI**

**A/N I've booted my age up a few years to 18 in this fic, otherwise it wouldn't work so well.**

**For those of you that don't know SI means Self-Insert.**

**M rating for language, just to be safe blah blah blah...**

**Chapter 1 **

**Didn't see that one coming...**

* * *

><p>Ah finally, my new game had arrived.<p>

One of the most anticipated games of 2011, Skyrim. Now I know what you're all thinking, it's been a while since it came out. But I had no money, now I finally have it.

But before I start all of that I'm Matthew, no need to give you my last name, I'm white British, 5 foot 11 tall, I have blue eyes, brown short hair and I'm skinny(ish).

Enough of me, time to play Skyrim!

I put the project I had been working on down and popped the game disc into my PS3 and it automatically booted up, I selected the game disc and started the game, but before I did this I made sure I was signed off PSN. No interruptions, just the pure epic game that is Skyrim!

Wait, when I say it like that, it sounds rather... never mind, shutting up now!

The main menu came up on my TV screen, it looked quite simple actually, and a black background with a symbol in the shape of a dragon which I hadn't seen before. I selected the 'New Game' option and prepared to lose a few months of social life.

The music choir faded away and a loading screen came up, a massive dragon was perched on what looked like a monument, a pedestal? A small script of information came up stating that something about Alduin, and how he will come to destroy the world.

Wow they've already revealed the main plot to us already? Oh well.

Then the room became dark, I looked outside expecting a dark cloud to have covered the sun, but there was no outside any more. Just darkness.

Then a voice pierced the dark like a knife, a deep booming voice that would have belonged to a man of evil. This voice spoke a language I doubted even existed, but it seemed real, and not gibberish.

"Fen du hin kriaan joorre" It spoke "Zu'u Alduin. Zok sahrot do naan ko Lein!"

Whatever this guys saying, it spells trouble in my book.

"Di kiirre fen alok."

"AND YOU WILL ALL DIE!" This last sentence was in English, and was shouted like a command, an order.

Whoa, wait what? Who the hell is this? This is like something straight out of a video game!

No, hell no... That's just not possible...

My train of thought for the entire matter was cut off as I fell unconscious.

* * *

><p>The first thing I felt when I awoke was the searing heat; licking its way around me. I pushed myself up from the ground and shook my head to wake myself up, and then I decided to open my eyes, expecting to see the room in my house.<p>

But instead of being met by the familiar colours and furniture, I was met by burning medieval era houses and burnt corpses.

I quickly looked away and attempted to keep myself from being sick, I then tried to get up and only managed to fall back down onto one knee. I brought my hand to the source of the pain and discovered an arrow embedded in my right leg.

Well at least it wasn't in the knee!

Crap, how can I make jokes like this, I don't know where the hell I am and I have an arrow stuck in my leg.

Then I partially got up and crawled to the nearest wall that wasn't burning, a stone wall that was all that remained from a small crumbled house.

I closed my eyes and tried to relax, this has to be a bad dream... right?

The pain was getting progressively worse, I just felt the need to sleep, and maybe if I do I'll be back in my room playing Skyrim.

I kept on falling in and out of unconsciousness as time went on, and the each time I awoke the pain was just as bad as before.

"We have a live one over here!" A voice suddenly shouted, I cracked my eyes open as the owner of the feminine voice came over and bent down next to me whilst putting a comforting hand on my shoulder.

I heard the sound of feet plodding their way over; in the meantime I turned my head towards the women. Huh, she looks familiar... a Redguard? Adrianne Avenicci? Damn the guides for ruining this!

But that's still not right; if I could talk probably I'd be laughing my head of right now, screw this...

Then I fell unconscious once again.

* * *

><p><strong>AN Translations of dragon language (In order of appearance).**

"**Fen du hin kriaan joorre"- "I will devour you mortal"**

**"Zu'u Alduin. Zok sahrot do naan ko Lein!" ― "I am Alduin. Most mighty of any in the World!"**

**"Di kiirre fen alok." ― "My children will arise."**

**P.S pretty short, chapters will be longer in future, around 1,000 to 1,500 words each.**


	2. Wait! I've read similar things

**Skyrim: SI**

**A/N General POV takes place usually when Matthew is unconscious etc.**

**Chapter 2 **

**Wait! I've read similar things...**

**General POV**

* * *

><p>The RedGuard Blacksmith known as Adrianne Avenicci had held guest to the unconscious boy for a few days now, the arrow in the boy's right leg had been easy enough to take out, and the healing abilities of Farengar Secret-Fire had helped immensely. Now Adrianne and her husband needed him to wake up.<p>

She had been passing through with her husband Ulfberth War-Bear to gather supplies and designs from a nearby settlement, that very same settlement was the one attacked by an infamous bandit band; the Absaroke. The towns guard had down all they could but they couldn't track the bandit band down.

They had laid the boy on the spare bedroom mattress, when they found him he was dressed very strangely. A grey shirt with an odd symbol and blue 'denim jeans', that's what the label on his trousers said.

Also, they had recovered a bag of sorts, a black and red bag with an extraordinary system that kept it shut tight, inside was a bizarre gauntlet with a blade and several gears attached along with several molds, a device that looked Dwemer in construction along with several amazingly detailed paintings and what looked like schematics.

This boy intrigued her, he was strange looking in general, He looked Imperial, but had an entirely different build, she couldn't pin what race he was from. Everything about him screamed out of the ordinary.

* * *

><p><strong>Normal POV <strong>

God, I feel like that I woke up with my head my bin. Man, what did I drink?

I opened my eyes and was rewarded to a blend of brown colours cover the walls and furniture. Great, what stranger took my drunken ass into their home.

Then a woman walked in through the door, with some water, she smiled at me, most probably because I was awake.

WAIT! REDGUARD!

Now it's all flooding back...

Oh, great... just great...

"How are you feeling?" asked the Redguard, her voice filled with concern. She handed me the water and I drunk it down as my mouth was too dry to talk properly.

"I'm fine." I said. My voice surprisingly raspy like I had been out for days. "What happened?" I asked, "I don't remember much..."

Her smile fell, to a grimace. "Your village was attacked, I'm sorry..."

My village? She thought that was my village, well looks like I'll have to go along with it. She wouldn't believe I came from a different dimension... Presumably. I feigned a look of sadness and grief and asked the question that anyone in my situation, "What happened?"

"Your village was attacked by the Absaroke, they looted the houses and burned them along with killing the populace, you were lucky and only had an arrow in the leg, we tried to look for more survivors, but, they had gone, I'm sorry," she apologised again.

"It's ok," I reassured her, it wasn't her fault, and I wasn't an unemotional bastard!

"My name's Matthew, pleased to meet you" I said quickly after my earlier reassurances.

"A strange name..." she said trailing off, "I'm Adrianne Avenicci, I work the forge outside and my husband Ulfberth runs the shop downstairs"

"Sounds like hard work..." I said.

Silence ensured after I said that, "I need to tend to the forge, I'll come back later and cheek on you" She left with a slight look of sadness still plastered on her face. Poor women probably thought she could save the village if she got there earlier or something.

* * *

><p>Days later I had managed to get up and about, I even got to meet Ulfberth, who was freaking huge, if all Nords are like this...<p>

I now donned a belted tunic with a pair of grey trousers and a pair of buckled boots, I couldn't really wear my old clothes as my denim jeans were covered in blood and my grey shirt stood out like a sore thumb.

Of course I had been asked questions, what race was I? Apparently I looked Imperial but my build was wrong, the villagers had found me when I was young and didn't know. This was a complete lie, but realistic.

I'd even got out into 'Whiterun', a hold or region of Skyrim, with a low climate and tundra plains surrounding it, Whiterun Hold apparently borders six of the other eight holds in Skyrim, with the exceptions of Winterhold and Haafingar, making it the central hub of Skyrim.

It's still weird knowing I'm actually in Skyrim and about 200 years on from the Oblivion Crisis, and knowing most fan fictions I read the inserted person nearly never gets back home, God I'm depressed right now.

* * *

><p>It had been a few days since I awoke from my coma slumber, and today I decided I would travel to Dragonsreach, I had been informed that Farengar Secret-Fire, the Jarls court wizard had healed my wounds. I planned to thank him.<p>

But before I could go Adrianne requested I took Jarls Balgruuf's Greatsword to her father, the steward in Dragonsreach. As she had looked after me for days, I gladly accepted.

I'm walking up to the Jarls home, and this sword, this massive sword which is nearly as big as me is really heavy! I continued to stumble up the flights of steps until I reached the doors. The citizens and passing guards giving me an amused look.

"HALT! What is your business in Dragonsreach boy?" I guard shouted into my ear all of a sudden, stupid Nord humour...

I answered quickly, as I had rehearsed the conversation in my head, "I'm here to deliver the Jarls sword to him and to speak to the court wizard."

The guard allowed me entry and opened the massive doors to the home of the Jarl, which is once again massive. I sure am overusing that word now.

I walked up some steps to see several people cleaning the floors of the palace

I walked over to the man I guessed was the steward. Just as described by Adrianne, an aging, balding man with some fine clothes on him, I finished walking and intuited conversation. Just remember Matthew, no more conversation dialogue wheels.

"Hello Mr Avenicci, I have here a Greatsword for the Jarl, forged by your daughter." I told him.

"Ah, yes" He exclaimed in a joyful tone, "I'll have to present it to him when his mood..." He paused a moment in thought before saying "Is agreeable..."

He took the sword and rested it on a nearby table, "You're the boy that Adrianne is looking after?"

"Yes, I'm going to try and help her out as a form of repayment" I answered him.

"Good, nice to know that people are still considerate in these tough times" he said, his upbeat tone fell to a more sombar one.

Ah yes, the Stormcloak rebellion, the rebellion led by a Jarl to free the Fatherland, Skyrim. From the Aldmeri Dominion, the puppet masters of the Empire because of a treaty signed after the Great War.

Great, we're being controlled by bitchy elves!

"Unfortunately, I wasn't well informed in my village, I only heard briefly about the rebellion." I told him.

"Yes, I am truly sorry about what happened, if we find out anything, we'll tell you, I suspect you'll want some revenge." He said.

Uh, what? Revenge? I don't have any connection to those dead people at all, but they don't know that...

"Um, thank you," I thanked him. I started to walk off towards where Farengar Secret-Fire resided, but was called back by the steward.

"Take this," he said as he clasped a pouch full of coins into my hands, "It looked like you had a hard time lugging that sword all over town" He chuckled slightly at my struggle.

"Th-thank you" I stuttered as I held the pouch and walked again to Farengar Secret-Fire's lab type thing.

I quickly counted the golden coins to an amount of 20 gold coins, ok, that's good, and I wasn't even expecting any money.

I walked into Farengar's lab and came face to face with the man who had healed me; he was dressed in blue/purple mages robes with a hood and was holding some salt.

"Ah, I'd heard you were awake, how are you feeling?" He asked with a small smile on his face.

Huh, strange, Adrianne had told me Farengar was a bit pompous and grumpy, but at the moment he seemed the exact opposite of what she described.

"I'm good," I replied, "I came here to thank you..." I started.

"No need to thank me," He said as he walked over to a table and picked up two books, he walked back to me and handed me the two books. "Please take these; they might help you in a sticky situation"

"Thanks..." I said, is everyone this kind in Skyrim?

"Could you do me a favour?" He asked, "Could you deliver these salts to Arcadia at her shop?"

I accepted, hopefully I could get some more money out of it, I left soon after and delivered the salts to Arcadia, obtaining another 20 gold coins.

I got back to the forge and got down to reading the books, both were spells, one was sparks, which was frigging awesome, and healing, which would help in a similar situation to what happened days before.

* * *

><p>Later on Adrianne greeted me, "I forgot to give you this," she said as she handed me my bag.<p>

I was gobsmacked, I thanked her and opened it, and several things fell out.

My iPod, a few pictures of my family, a few engineering schematics and something that would come in very helpful. My Project.

My Hidden Blade...

**A/N**

**Translation- Absaroke. ("Children of the big-beaked bird")**

**My iPod will serve a substantial role in the near future. And the Hidden Blade... (Laughs out loud). This also leads onto a disclaimer, which is strange as one would go near the beginning, but if it was at the beginning it would ruin the 'Project'.**

**Disclaimer- This is not associated with "Becoming a Hero" by Older than Time. I had already finished a few chapters before discovering the story, if I knew the hidden blade idea had been used I probably wouldn't have used it.**

**My Assassins Creed Reference (the blades etc.) is not a plot device, in the sense of creating Assassins Guild etc. Fighting will be based on Assassins Creed as a whole, but will be unique to my Character.**

**Disclaimer**** over! Go and read "Becoming a Hero", one of those brilliant gems of an SI that you rarely come across, also read the Mass Vexations series. nothing to do with Skyrim but it's still brilliant.**

**Also I might not be able to post for a while, with revision, homework, GCSE's and life in general getting in the way. **


	3. I need an imaginative title

**Skyrim: SI**

**A/N **

**Dazaris8theOwl- Just recently played that quest, good idea, but I don't think my character will use it, as he's more of a lightweight. But I'm thinking of putting it in somewhere for another character.**

**Umbra8191- glad you enjoyed the first two chapters, hope you enjoy the rest!**

**Thanks to the two above for the reviews, nice to have two positive reviews, you both get a... cookie, or something. If anyone else has reviewed and I haven't mentioned you, then I'm sorry and will try and mention you next chapter.**

**Now on with the chapter!**

**Chapter 3 **

**I need an imaginative title...**

The day after getting my belongings back I started to put the Hidden Blade back together, putting the gears back was the hardest thing, whilst putting the string back was easy. The string was designed to activated the blade, letting it spring out and into action.

The schematics were even better, mostly half finished jottings, but most couldn't be made due to the due to the technological limits of Tamriel. But some of them were of designs that could be made, and hadn't been made yet in Tamriel.

Hell yeah I could become the creator of the crossbow in this universe!

Actually, that would be pretty cool.

Anyways, moving on; two things very personal things were in the bag, picture of my family, in frames luckily so they wouldn't get damaged, and my IPod, and it still worked. Along with the fact that it worked, I also discovered I could power device with my newly acquired sparks power.

Huzzah!

I cheeked all the apps and everything worked, of course no internet, but there was one app I had yet to open. Something to help with the game. A guide to Skyrim.

I thought it was best not to open it, I had sworn I would keep myself spoiler free. The only time I would open it is if I was in a dire situation.

But moving on, did I forget to mention toilets? And for that matter baths/showers. You have to use the equivalent to a hole in the ground. And we bath using the stream water. Damn, how long will it take to get used to this, huh?

But to say the least I thought it would be a lot worse, the smell was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Thank the God's? Divines? I was never particularly religious so it's strange to think there is definably a higher power in Tamrial.

Did they have something to do with me getting here? But that voice...

**Flashback**

"_Fen du hin kriaan joorre" It spoke "Zu'u Alduin. Zok sahrot do naan ko Lein!" _

_Whatever this guys saying, it spells trouble in my book._

_"Di kiirre fen alok."_

"_AND YOU WILL ALL DIE!" This last sentence was in English, and was shouted like a command, an order._

**Present**

Alduin was a dragon, he and his brothers were the bringers of the end time, and I forgot how depressing things got here. Rebellions, dragons, yeesh! Talk about massive plot devices, huh?

Alduin was the one mentioned in the load screen I saw before being brought here, but strangely enough, no reports of dragons had been mentioned around Whiterun.

Maybe If I look at that app... No, no! I said I wouldn't!

* * *

><p>I was sitting outside Adrianne's shop and put the final gear into the Hidden Blade; I strapped it to my right arm and put the string around my finger. I then flicked my hand outwards suddenly, and to my delight the blade sprung out.<p>

I allowed the blade to slide back into place, and allowed it to spring out again. Hah! I'm cool.

At that moment Adrianne came out of the shop, carrying different ingots and leather for use at the forge.

Now, over the time I've been staying here, I'd been helping Adrianne with the forge, and deliveries to her customers. So I now knew a bit about metals, armour and weapons.

"What's that then?" I was snapped out of my mind rant by the Redguard.

"A Hidden Blade" I answered, she arched an eyebrow up in confusion as she leaned against a beam supporting a part of the shop.

To show her what it was I flicked my hand out, the string allowing the gears to turn, this let the blade spring out into the open. I looked at it impressively and then looked at Adrianne. She looked shocked.

"Amazing..." She muttered, "Could I have a look?"

I unattached the blade and tossed it to her, she caught it and inspected the gears that weren't covered. She inspected it for several minutes before tossing it back to me.

"What did you think?" I asked her as I slipped it back on my arm.

"It's very impressive..." She said, "How did you make it?"

"Lots of trial and error!" I said while chuckling lightly. It was completely true; this was Hidden Blade V5 if I remembered correctly.

"I've never seen anything like this" She said to me. "If it is designed to be a weapon it won't lend any protection."

"It is meant to be a weapon, but if it had to offer protection it would have to be light, it's more of a stealth weapon."

She got some of the leather she had carried out earlier and gave it to me; then she walked over to the forge and gestured for me to come over to her. "Let's put to use what you've learnt, we need to make some leather armour for you."

I nodded at her as I walked over to her and placed the Hidden Blade on a bench. This will rock!

* * *

><p>Once again; Huzzah!<p>

My armour was finally made, but instead of normal leather armour that most adventurers wore. Mine covered the vital areas of my body, which consisted of Vambraces, Greaves, a Chest Guard and Spaulders. Much like Assassins Creed armour.

Well, it was. Really. I had also gone to Belethor's General Goods and purchased some flowing robes with a hood that actually stayed in place. The robes in question weren't too long, and the upper part of the robes was designed like a coat, a white piece of clothing covering a fading blue shirt. No cape, that would just get in the way.

* * *

><p>I got back to the shop and opened the door to go to the room I was staying in to put my leather armour on and see what it looked like, but instead of being met by Ulfberth War-Bear I was met by Adrianne.<p>

She saw the confused look on my face and told me "Ulfberth went to the Bannered Mare early today, had to kick a customer out who put up a bit of a fight."

"Oh, ok" I said as I walked up the stairs to put both the new clothes and armour on. I slipped the clothes on first making sure everything fit and that the hood stayed in place, I then slipped the armour on and made sure that too was attached along with the Hidden Blade.

I was about to exit the room and go downstairs to show Adrianne my new clothes and how they looked with the armour. But a sharp knock rattled the house and shouting ensured after that.

I slipped out of the room and went to the banister of the stairs to overlook the ground floor and see what happened below. What I saw shocked me.

The shop area was now strewn with several weapons that were once on display, and a man had grabbed Adrianne from behind the counter and thrown her on the floor whilst threatening her with what looked like a Steel Short Sword.

"...that your husband isn't here I can take what I want!" The man said in a menacing voice, he was dressed in full leather armour and had a strange symbol carved onto the leather.

Arianne couldn't respond because of the sword being pressed against her neck, damn! What do I do?

Put my body was already responding before I could devise a plan, I had pulled myself up onto the banister and balanced myself on it, I scanned the room and found that it wasn't as far as I originally thought...

I leaped off the banister, my robes billowing behind me as I began my descend, one of my hands angling downwards to steady myself when I landed, my right hand went above my head, ready to strike.

I landed, the man being thrown to the floor away from Adrianne, his sword being thrown uselessly to the side. And before I knew it my blade had sprung from my hand and had embedded itself inside one of the only place not protected by leather armour, the neck.

He gurgled as he struggled, and then everything went white.

* * *

><p>I was knelt over the man, in a strange white space, he was still struggling but the bleeding had slowed considerably.<p>

"Who are you?" I said suddenly.

"It doesn't matter" He spat.

"That strange symbol on your back," I questioned him harshly, I had taken control of myself again, but was still questioning him. He had threatened Adrianne. That was enough reason to be harsh.

"The Big-Beaked-Bird" He whispered as the blood seeped from his neck more freely. Then he stopped his struggling, his eyes starting to glass over. I closed his eyes as a sign of respect.

"Requiescat in pace..." I muttered as the white space gave way to the familiar layout of the shop.

* * *

><p>I shakily got up and went over to Adrianne, who herself, had gotten up. She wiped away a tear on my face, "Was that he first time you've..."<p>

"Yeah" I said shakily as she hugged me, she then let go and proceeded to go outside to alert the guards to what had just happened.

I turned towards the dead man, I knelt and down and searched his pockets, coming across a coin purse, filled with a hefty 400 gold coins, also a Lesser Soul Gem and a letter.

I opened it and quickly scanned it:

_Folki _

_Buy the supplies and get back to Swindler's Den, we need the weapons and food if we want to attack that caravan!_

_Leader_

"What's that?" Adrianne asked as she opened the door to allow the guards into the shop.

I closed the letter and looked back at the dead man. "I lead on the Absaroke..."

* * *

><p><strong><span>AN Mini Update! Only difference being the robes description with one or two fixes to grammar.**

**The robes look more like Assassins Creed 3's protagonist Conner's robes. If you haven't watched the trailer go watch it!**

**Huzzah! another chapter, ****I probably won't be able to post a for a good chunk of time due to the release of Mass Effect 3! I probably would have got another chapter in but I need to get a full paragon play though of Mass Effect 2 before ****Friday! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)**

**Translations of dragon language (In order of appearance).**

"**Fen du hin kriaan joorre"- "I will devour you mortal"**

**"Zu'u Alduin. Zok sahrot do naan ko Lein!" ― "I am Alduin. Most mighty of any in the World!"**

**"Di kiirre fen alok." ― "My children will arise."**

**Translation for names:**

**Folki- Norse for folk, tribe.**

**Absaroke. ("Children of the big-beaked bird")**


	4. Preparation

**Skyrim: SI  
>Chapter 4<br>Preparation... Or some Shit...**

**A/N Writers block, funerals, colds and life in general have kept me from this, but after re-playing Skyrim and reading fanfication I have inspiration!**  
><strong>Thanks to 'blood enraged', 'Wertmon505' and the anonymous reviewer who reviewed while I was away, and to everyone that added the story to their favourites.<strong>

"So... did you find anything on the body?" The Jarl of Whiterun asked one of the guards Adrianne had let into the house the day before. He was currently sat upon his throne looking lazily at the guard.

I was still dressed in my robes and armour, even though I was in a hold where it was safe I felt better with some protection on. And also it was surprisingly comfortable, and warm.

The Jarl had only requested that we come up to Dragonsreach, why did it take it a full day for him to take action, I mean come on! One of your towns people; and an important one at that was just attacked and it took you a whole day to respond.

"No, we did not." Answered the guard in the familiar Nord accent.

"A pity..." He said as his attention was diverted to the side of his chair, no longer acknowledging us.

Uh, I hate it when people ignore me; of course in this place they see me as one of the common rabble, gah! Seriously man I'm right here!

I'm getting this guys attention, screw the consequences! And so I cleared my throat. Loudly, I might add.

The Jarl turned his head slightly in my direction whilst tilting his head to the side, "What do you want?" He asked sharply.

"I found some evidence on his body, a letter..." I said to the Jarl as I handed him said letter.

He unfolded the letter and scanned the text contained within it, he looked up at me and then the guard and a flash of anger crossed his face.

"And why have you got this letter, and not one of my guards?" He questioned me, a tinge of annoyance present in his voice.

"I would have given this to a town guard, but they left straight after taking away the body" I answered him with the same tone he gave me. If he treats me like this, well so will I!

"I will look into that matter later on" Balgruuf said with little interest, gee, like hell he will. "This Swindlers Den, is a cavern near here, I'll have some guards go and clear it out in a few days."

Then I did one of the most stupid things, I opened my mouth and said "I'm going too!"

The Jarl gave me an amused look, "Ah, the boy who saved Adrianne, willing to prove yourself? Even after what you allowed to happen at your village?"

Oh! Oh, you did not go there, you stuck up. Little Motherf- Calm, happy thoughts Matthew! Calm...

"They destroyed my village; they nearly killed one of my friends!" I answered him, "I'm doing this for them; not to prove myself!" I said as I pointed a finger at him accusingly. I took my hand back down and briefly pondered, that was a Paragon choice! And now I'm going to get the shit kicked out of me for disrespecting the Jarl...

"My men move out in four days, be there." He told me as he pointed to the massive doors, "Go, and prepare."

Gah! The way he said that, I'll show him when I've slaughtered those bandits! No! No, bad thoughts! Bad Renegade!

* * *

><p>I strode out and into the open and finally came to Adrianne's shop, and explained the situation to her.<p>

_"I have a friend who can help"  
><em>  
>And that friend was an archer from the Companions, Aela the Huntress. She taught me the use of Bow's and Daggers that day. A basic introduction at first, how to hold and strike with a Dagger. And how to hold, aim and shoot with a bow.<p>

And on the second day I threw a newly constructed Crossbow into the mix, this was constructed the night before from one of my old blueprints. It went brilliantly! She was surprised at the construct and was also very interested in the hidden blade. She'd asked about possibly getting one herself, but I'd told her it wasn't for sale.

I brought two sheaths for my daggers and another on my back for my crossbow at the General Store after training.

The last day of training we had actual combat training, I was going to fight Aela with daggers first, then bows, or in my case, crossbows.

* * *

><p>I met the Huntress around the back of Jorrvaskr and quickly got my two daggers out, ready to test my newfound skills.<p>

To say the least Aela was surprised, even though she was a hunter, she expected we'd at least talk first. But she agreed nonetheless.

"Don't expect me to go easy!" She shouted from across the other side the area.

"I don't expect ..." But I was cut off as she burst across the battlefield and swung a steel dagger at me.

I jumped back, surprised at her animalistic speed, dagger at the ready I swung too and our steel daggers met sending a loud clang throughout the area.

As she was a warrior, and had more experience she easily overpowered me, I sidestepped and swung both of my daggers down from above. But once again she countered it.

I jumped back, being springy on my heels, fight fire with fire. Speed with speed. I swivelled both daggers in my hands and charged towards her, this was the time to show her what I had learnt!

I swiped both my daggers at her from the left, and she blocked them both with hers, she swiped with speed, precision and power, knocking my dagger in my left hand out and sending it soaring across the battlefield.

Crap, one dagger left. I'll go on the defensive while I figure out a new plan.

I began to circle her, and as I did I noticed that we had gained an audience. The brothers Vilkas and Farkas, a new companion named Ria. A high ranker by the name of Skjor. The forge master Vignar Gray-Mane watched from above and even the Harbinger himself, Kodlak Whitemane had come to watch!

Another reason why I had to win!

I snapped back to reality as Aela swung at me, the audience had started to cheer, most cheering for the fierce huntress, but for an odd reason the Harbinger was cheering for me.

Hmph! I can do this! Wow that's cheesy.

I parried her blow; she swung again, this time widely. As the blades came towards me I ducked down, moving myself underneath the blades and moving up to the side. As she recovered from the attack she failed to deal I swivelled my blade, and used the butt of it to hit one of her hands. Making her drop the blade in her left hand.

She turned on her heel and looked fiercely at me; she looked like a force of nature. One that could destroy entire towns and settlements without breaking a sweat.

Aela moved in for another attack and I prepared to parry, but before anything could happen am old, wise voice called from the crowd which had gathered. "ENOUGH!"

Kodlak Whitemane also looked like a force of nature; he stared at both of us, but gave Aela more of a meaningful look. A look which told her she should have stopped.

Aela looked ashamed and shot me a quick look of apology. Kodlak walked over and started to talk to her, "Aela, you should know when to stop by now." Even though he looked and sounded angry, he didn't, he had a look of... Understanding on his face?

"And Matthew." He greeted me, sounding like an old father. "You've only been learning this for three days and already you've adapted and embraced it!"

"Thank you" I said to him surprised, he nodded to Aela and me again and walked back inside the companion mead hall. The others in the audience excluding Vignar Gray-Mane went back inside, he returned to his forge.

I quickly retrieved my other dagger while Aela went over to where a dummy was, and without speaking she picked up one of the over-large wooden shields made exactly for the purpose of the next exercise.

Seemed she was angry at herself for that dagger training.

She started moving around the area, at times she was fast, and then slow, or ducking and weaving her way through dummies or the wooden beams of Jorrvaskr.

I pulled my crossbow out from its sheath and readied an arrow, taking in a deep breath and holding it, making sure that my breathing didn't make my aim inaccurate.

I fired the bolt from the crossbow and it sailed through the air, impacting the shield in the lower left with a dull thud.

After aiming and firing more bolts we called it a day. Or rather Aela called it a day; she said I was ready, and also apologised about her earlier actions.

"There's no need to apologise Aela, everyone does funny things when in the heat of battle." I told her as we put away our weapons and training equipment.

"I guess you're right, so long friend, may you hunt well tomorrow." She said.

"The same for you." I replied as I walked back to the shop.

Tomorrows going to be one hell of a time.

* * *

><p><strong>AN in response to a reviewers question and I feel like you all deserve to know because of my long absence. But then again I don't want to give too much away; all I'll say is that there'll be multiple Dragonborns. More will be revealed in a few chapters time, hopefully. **


	5. Strike

**Skyrim: SI  
>Chapter 5<br>Strike... Sounds like a COD reference...**

**A/N doubly thanks to 'Wertmon505', glad you like this.**  
><strong>And the anonymous reviewer 'Classified', who reviewed once again, good to know some don't mind the delay, but I recently discovered a DLC might contain crossbows, I'm psyched but it means Matt will lose an advantage.<strong>

**Older then Time, thanks it means a lot that you reviewed, I really do like reading your fanfics, thanks for reviewing.  
>Also, 'Swindlers Den' won't be the same, it's not like I'll go back there.<br>**

* * *

><p>God it was chilly, why today of all days huh?<br>Right, so we're outside right now, on a hill overlooking Swindlers Den. One man was on guard, a skinny Imperial by the looks of it.  
>One of the guards readied his bow, but I held up a hand. Ah the benefits of being second in command...<p>

Oh! Did I forget to mention?

* * *

><p>"<em>Men!" The Commander of the guard, a tough Nord by the name of Cauis shouted out to the 8 guards who were coming on the trip, 2 women, 6 men, the captain and me. <em>Cauis <em>was dressed in full iron armour, with a massive battleaxe to boot. "Today, we fight, we fight the Children of the big-beaked bird, and we will show them what true Nords are capable of!_

Several loud cries came back in response; I looked at the men who were willing to die to protect their town. If they die...  
>"You."<br>I looked back to the burly Nord Commander, and gulped. Right, this is serious, people can be killed, and he is still looking at you Matt say something! And not something sarcastic!

_"Uh..." I started while twiddling my thumbs. _

_"Don't worry lad" He said in a surprisingly kind voice, who would have fought this hulk of a man could do that?_

_"I... thanks" I said to him._

_"You can have some reign in this fight. Remember you're doing this for your village, and also I heard you've been practising with Aela so you'll be fine." I nodded and we moved out towards the cavern._

* * *

><p>I took my crossbow from my back and carefully aimed, I breathed in to prevent me wobbling, this would hopefully give me a better and steadier aim.<br>I let the bolt go, watching it swoosh through the air and embedding it in the guards... Oh god it didn't...

In the bloody knee!

The watch out fell onto his good knee, crying out in pain. I quickly sprinted off the hill and sunk my hidden blade into his neck. He fell dead and I quickly pulled his body into a bush in case anyone came passing by, also nabbing a good amount of gold...

I just killed a man, sure I'd killed Folki but that was necessary. The guy in the bushes might have been new, might not have killed others yet... Might have been innocent...

I snapped out of my thoughts as the others fell in, Cauisleading us through the old door and into a surprisingly well lit cavern. The cavern was covered in mushrooms, moss and small puddles of water, making it not the best of sights.

Up ahead was an opening to a passage, presumably to another room. A guard went through first, closely followed by the rest of us. I followed at the back as it was a narrow passage.

Then a thump sounded from the front, I looked over the mass of heads to see the guard at the front fall.

"Shit!" Several of us swore, including me, the guard behind the injured put his arms under the injured shoulders and dragged him through the passage as we reversed into the room we were in earlier.

The Commander pointed to the opening, "Someone guard that!" then he pointed to a corner, "Place him there," He issued the command softly, as if for the dying mans benefit.

The injured was placed gently onto the floor, the rescuer stayed while one of the women went over to comfort him. I went too.

I crouched down beside him and got my first look at the damage; it had impacted his stomach area and had gone through the chain mail, but not far. What was causing the pain?

As if sensing my question the women answered. "Poisoned" She half whispered.

She held the man's hand tightly and I took a guess that something was going on between the two, I held my hand out and put it on his shoulder, I thought of the spell I wanted and tried to ease his pain. The common glow of healing surrounded him, the wound did not close but it seemed to ease the pain.

After draining my Magicka the guard shook his head. I nodded my head and let some held back tears trickle down my face. The women just sobbed, already mourning the loss that was to come. He beckoned for her to come closer and whispered into her ear. She sobbed still but nodded her head.

He then looked to us and managed to whisper, "Give em hell..." Then his head lolled to the side, and I knew without checking for a pulse that he was dead.

"May Arkay guide you to Sovngarde" The Commander said in respect. The women then rested the lifeless arms over his chest, making him look more at peace.

I looked to the passage currently being guarded by the Whiterun guards, then just above that I noticed an opening in the rock, hopefully to the other room.

I jogged over and climbed the wall and peeped over, indeed it did.

I jumped down to the confused look of the captain. I called forth my sparks and asked a weird question, "Anyone got a jar?"

A guard, his body language suggesting confusion spotted a dirty old jar and tossed it to me. Sparks still active I shot some in and quickly screwed it tight. The sparks bounced desperate for escape. God I hope this works...

I looked to Cauis, a look of realisation on his face. "When I say, charge in and do what you need to do."

"What will you do?" he asked.

But I neglected to answer as I lobbed the sparky concoction through the opening. The jar cracked and several cries were heard from the other room.

"On to Victory!" I cried out as the attack began.

I climbed through the opening and witnessed the guards get into a scuffle with the stunned Absaroke. At the end of the cabin I spotted the presumed leader, pointing the Poisoned Bow at anyone who dared get to close.

I edged along the wall, careful not to be spotted or fall into the skirmish below. I got to the end of the room and dropped down silent, surprisingly.

Several fights had ended badly for the Absaroke, the fights still going had stopped though. Staring at me and the leader.

I moved swiftly and placed both hands on his shoulders forcing him down, but not before whispering menacingly, "It ends here!"

I shoved him to his knees, took both of my steel daggers, and swivelled them with speed and style before plunging both into his neck.

And once again, a white light enveloped the cavern.

I was crouched over the leader, a bald man in his late forties, wearing the same uniform as the rest of his gang.

"So this is why Folki never returned..." he muttered, blood dripping from his wound.

I stayed quiet. This man had presumably killed countless people just so he could have some mead at the end of each day.

"Nothing to say? Hm?" he asked.

"You've killed countless," I accused him, "My village is gone because of you!"

"So, a boy grew up quickly for revenge, hm? Well now you have a taste of it, the art of killing. Soon you'll become addicted!" He laughed and started coughing.

I shook my head, no way would that happen. As he breathed his last I closed his eyes and muttered, "May you find peace with whichever god you worship, be them  
>daedra or divine..."<p>

The white space gave way and I was back in the cavern. The Absaroke left were staring open mouthed at me, giving the guards plenty a chance to arrest them. Not with handcuffs but by knocking them out, something I wanted to join in on.

The Commander came up to me and gave a rough handshake. "Fine work lad, fine work."

I smiled as we made our way back to Whiterun. Looks like the Jarl will want to speak to us now.  
>But still, as I looked to the newly constructed stretcher carrying the man, I realised a good man died today, looks like Skyrim isn't all fun and games...<p>

**Cookie of your choosing if you can get the reference I made!**

**A/N Translation for names:  
>Absaroke. ("Children of the big-beaked bird")<br>**

**Mini update- Boli was changed to Caius, as I didn't know of Cauis before I wrote this chapter.**


	6. Talking and Orange Fur Balls

**Skyrim: SI  
>Chapter 6<strong>

**A/N Sorry, didn't realise Whiterun already had a Commander, so that mistake has been amended. If you guys haven't realised by know I don't have a beta, and due to my mad schedule, probably won't get one. So this is a filler chapter just to say sorry.**

**Also nobody guessed the reference, still waiting for you guys to figure it out.**

**Oh, and no more updates for two weeks cause I'm going to America in a few days time!**

**Talking and Orange Fur Balls...**

I walked back into Dragonsreach, Cauis in front as we made our way to our audience with the Jarl. I was bit of anxious to see what he would say to us. We had deposited the body of the dead guard in the hall of the dead for proper burial rites, his 'girlfriend' staying with him. Thinking of the guard how would his death come into this?

The guard platoon reached the Jarl's throne and we waited for Balgruuf to make an appearance, probably having a bath or something... God I'd love a bath right now...

The Steward went off in search of the Jarl of and minutes later they returned. The Jarl sat on his throne and his eyes scanned our small crowd, his expression turned grim though when he noticed two missing.

"You are missing two guards..." He looked sad. Huh strange, this coming from the guy that didn't give a damn about Adrianne.

"Jarl, one of them is dead; another guard is looking after the body for rites." Cauis explained, "If it wasn't for Matthew's quick thinking, we might have suffered more losses."

Well, ok wasn't expecting that!

The Jarl looked over to me and gave a sympathetic nod; once again I'm stumped... The Jarl's showing emotion again.

"As my right as Jarl of Whiterun and its hold, you are now Matthew Traust, Traust stands for protection, support, confidence. You protected my guards and supported them in Swindlers Den. And you showed confidence when you wanted to assist them."

Right, heard of this... It's a great honour and I haven't actually told anyone my last name... Well Matthew Traust it is then. Protection, support, confidence, I like it!

"My thanks, Jarl Balgruuf" I said, huh ever since I got here I'm more formal. Great, I'm posh!

Balgruuf turned to look at Cauis, and conversed with him for several minutes. He asked for every detail, from taking out the watch out of Swindlers Den, the poisoned arrow and the guard, my quick idea involving the jar and sparks and the death of the Absaroke leader.

I didn't really listen, fazed out of any conversation going on. My mind wandering back to a few hours ago...

_The watch out fell onto his good knee, crying out in pain. I quickly sprinted off the hill and sunk my hidden blade into his neck. He fell dead and I quickly pulled his body into a bush in case anyone came passing by, also nabbing a good amount of gold..._

_I just killed a man, sure I'd killed Folki but that was necessary. The guy in the bushes might have been new, might not have killed others yet... Might have been innocent..._

I had killed three people now, all presumed murderers. And strongly enough, I hadn't dwelled on it long, only coming back to it for mere minutes. I need to understand, I'm in a medieval land, and this is a regular occurrence.

"Thank you everyone" The Jarl concluded, "Go and take a good rest."

Wow, I missed the rest of the conversation, well huzzah...

I walked out of Dragonsreach, parting ways with Boli and his guards. But not being given 750 gold coins by the Jarl for my service. Wow that's a lot of money...

I pushed the doors open and made my way out back to Adrianne's shop. But I didn't have to travel far to see Adrianne and her husband Ulfberth War-Bear.

Adrianne smiled and hugged me, and Ulfberth roughly shook my hand, as a Nord usually would. "How'd it go?" Adrianne asked as we slowly began to walk down the steps from the Jarls home.

"We lost a man," I started sadly, both looked sad at this, "But after that I distracted them, then I climbed through a gap to the other room and managed to get the leader from above."

Both smiled at the conclusion of the short version of what happened, at the death of the leader of the Absaroke. Ulfberth patted me hard on the back and nearly sent me face first into the floor; damn Nords don't know their own strength...

"We're going to The Bannered Mare." Ulfberth told me as we continued walking, "I'm buying you drinks!"

Huh, bad time to mention this but I have rarely had an alcoholic drink before, and when I did I didn't drink enough to get drunk... Damn...

"Thanks?" I said uncertainly, but he never noticed my tone as we made our way towards The Bannered Mare.

After entering the pub and getting a table we ordered drinks, standard Nord Mead. I drunk it and a warm feeling overtook me and I felt feather-light. Now let's just get this straight, that was glass 1.

After a drinking competition with Ulfberth, which consisted of 6 glasses of mead? Or was it 7? Anyway after that the Nord claimed victory I proceeded to fall to the ground.

I sat up, looked at everyone in a drunken haze, "I love all of yer! Every one of yer!" I slurred while holding up an empty mead bottle, I then looked at the bard Mikael, and I pointed at him with the bottle in my hand and said "Not yer..." Then I fell unconscious.

I awoke to my room in Adrianne's shop, thin rays of sunlight filtered into the room, wow morning already? God I must have been really, really...

Drunk! Oh shit!

Please tell me I was brought back by Ulfberth and that a tiger isn't in the bathroom...

Great, now I need to go to the toilet.

After cheeking the toilet wasn't occupied by an orange fur ball, I went downstairs to find Ulfberth already at the counter. I walked up to him and asked him one question that was killing me, just how drunk was I last night?

"Very, I think our local bard is upset, but I told him it was the drink talking..." He said, then he smirked, I face palmed, never again will I agree to a drinking match. "Oh, and Adrianne wanted to talk to you, she outside."

I nodded and found Adrianne leaning against one of the wooden beams; she looked over to me and beckoned me closer. "I have a proposition."

"Ok, go on."

"How would a job here sound like to you?" She said.

I opened my mouth, probably looking like a goldfish; she chuckled and awaited a response.

"Uh, yeah that would be great, but I have no where to stay..." I said.

I waved her dismissively at this, "Don't worry, you can stay with us until you find accommodation." She assured me.

"Thank you, what's the pay?" I asked.

"A minimum of 60 Septims a week." She told me.

"Sweet"

**One month later...**

Yeah you heard right, a month, over a month in Skyrim. The only eventful thing that happened was a vengeful Absaroke escaping the dungeons, but I soon dealt with him, earning another cash reward.

I had culminated around 5500 Septims, meaning I could haggle for Breezehome, a small home next-door to War Maidens. I had told Adrianne this and she agreed, seeing if she could pull some strings with her father.

But as we walked up to Dragonsreach, news I had been dreading met our ears when I talked to one of the guards who I had fought alongside with on the raid.

"Did you hear, they say Dragons attacked Helgan, the end times are upon us..."

**A/N**

**Translation- **

**Traust- protection, support, confidence.**

**Absaroke. ("Children of the big-beaked bird")**

**Folki- Norse for folk, tribe.**


	7. Hello Beastie

**Skyrim: SI 7  
>Chapter 7<br>Thanks to ErebusQuills for reviewing, and double thanks for pointing out my error. I'll see if I can fix it.  
>Mattmaster112, thanks for the offer, I'll think about it and by changing the title did you mean the fanfic name or chapter name?<br>coduss, glad you think it's good.  
>And Classified, thanks for the review, glad you liked the drink scene, we'll have to see if he tells anybody but it's a possibility. And if it weren't for you I wouldn't know about the dlc trailer. Looks epic. I'll go with the Dawnguard first, then that vampire cult thing.<br>Oh, and I'm very annoyed with Fanfiction (to put it lightly). Their removing fanfics that contain lemons and violence, I admit I read fanfics which have lemons in them but quite a few are just part of the overall story. So the moment I get home (as I'm in Florida while writing this) I'm going to sign a petition I heard about to stop the 'purge'.  
>And on a more positive note, I aim to make my chapters longer and might go back to previous chapters and fixadd more information, conversations where I can.  
>So thanks everyone, on with the chapter!<strong>

Hello beastie...

Adrianne and I made our way into Dragonsreach. Guards and cleaners going about their daily routines, but the cleaners were looking over their shoulders like a dragon would sneak up on them and the guards kept looking out of the window.

Even though I wore my gear full time now, I knew my gear alone wouldn't save me from a dragon attack.

I had my IPod tucked away in a pocket, rarely used now. Mainly used for music and pictures. I was really itching to sneak a peek at my guide. Ok, when I get back to Warmaidens or hopefully Breezehome I'll cheek some of it up.

We walked up the steps to see a roaring fire for dinners, the Jarls housecarl, a dark elf was near the empty throne. Hand on the hilt of her sword as me and Adrianne approached the steward. Well she seems tetchy.

Adrianne's father smiled at the sight of his daughter as we approached, he also did the same for me. I was a very good friend to the family now.

"Ah, hello there Adrianne, Matthew." The Imperial said. "How goes business?" he asked her.

"Very well father." Adrianne answered.

"And how goes being an assistant?" He asked me.

I nodded and answered, "Really good, I'm learning a lot!" It was true, I now knew many advantages and disadvantages about armour and weapons now. Adrianne had been attempting to utilise my 'knack' for making and improving things. This had resulted in more sales.

"Good, good, may I ask the purpose of your visit?" He seems quite posh, comes with being the Jarls steward I guess.

"Yes, I'd like to buy Breezehome. I even have the minimum amount of gold needed." I said as I showed him a couple of bags filled with septims.

It was a real bugger lugging this amount of gold around, why couldn't they make an equivalent of £2 coins or £5 coins?

"Ah, well in light of services to Whiterun I see no problem with this; we can fill out any paper work and then complete the transaction." He explained to my joy.

But when he mentioned paperwork my joyous mood fell, even in a place where proper toilets hadn't been established yet they had friggin paperwork!

"Oh great paperwork..." I muttered in a mood much to the amusement of Adrianne and Proventus.

He motioned a hand towards the stairs, the three of us climbed up and came in a room with a map of Skyrim, and several flags consisting of Empire red and Stormcloak blue where scattered over the holds.

Looking at the map, it only dawned on me how big Skyrim truly was.

Each separate hold was clearly shown; borders and possible camps were also shown along with the safest routes to towns and villages.

A very handy map, if only I can take a picture...

Wait! Hold the phone, I have an IPod! Stupid Matthew!

As I was just ahead of Adrianne and Proventus I quickly took out my IPod and snapped several pictures of the map, I then slipped it into a pocket as the two came up the stairs.

Good job they didn't see that, it would be extremely hard or impossible to explain what it was, although I had a suspicion that Adrianne had seen it when she rescued me about a month ago.

Proventus went to gather the dreaded paper work while me and Adrianne talked, mainly about the news of dragons.

"So, Dragons" I said as I failed to contain a chuckle, it was still weird being in a video game universe.

"Yes, I wouldn't believe that sort of rubbish if I were you, probably a joke of some kind. And the superstitious have believed it." She theorised.

"I never knew much about dragons." I said, hoping she might go into some detail.

"Not much is known anyway," She told me, "Most of the information was lost to time, the only few slivers of information that remain is that there was a war, and the dragons were winning as they had the power of the thu'um, but they then lost. Then again most including myself believe it to be a legend."

"Thu'um?" I asked her in confusion. What the hell was a thu'um?

"Dragons had the power of speech before us, and the Thu'um literally turned their voice into power." She explained slowly, her face scrunching up in an effort to remember.

"What about Alduin?" I asked before mentally scolding myself, how would I know that name? I only knew he was a dragon and bringer if the end times, not much else.

"I'm surprised you know of the world eater." She said with a look of confusion on her face.

"A caravan once came through our village and a bard travelling with them told us a tale of him, but I can't remember much..." I lied.

It felt bad lying, especially to Adrianne. But what could I say? That I had found out from a game based on this period of Skyrim?

"Yes, I learnt from Ulfberth about him. Apparently Alduin is the first born of Akatosh and the bringer of the end times." She told me, she seemed uninterested in this tale, and to tell you the truth, I could see why. When so little was known about dragons it was easy to lose interest.

"Of course," I said in a matter of fact tone. "Nothing cheerful? Not the bringer of flowers and happiness?"

She stared at me for a second and started laughing. I joined in and after that we talked about other things.

Proventus then returned with only a few pieces of paper, no scratch that parchment. Why did it take him so long?

He saw my inquisitive look and answered my unspoken question, "We've had little applicants recently, with the rebellion going on these documents have been gathering dust!"

He set them down on the table but not before blowing a thick layer of dust off the top document. Huh, he wasn't kidding.

After finding a quil and inkwell I began to fill in the document that would lead to me moving into my first house.

After the extreme difficulty that was writing with an quil, (which was still hard getting used to) Proventus cheeked the documents, nodded his approval and retrieved the key from one of his pockets.

He handed it to me and I slipped it into my breast pocket where my IPod also resided. I thanked him and we shook hands.

"Taking into account all the services you've done for Whiterun I think I'll be able to get the cost for furnishing down to 500." He offered.

I thanked him for this as I handed him the cost for the house and the amount for the furnishing. Well I'm broke... Until I'm paid tomorrow, ah life is sweet!

When the handing over of a lot of money was complete we said farewell and me and Adrianne made our way down the stairs.

Farengar Secret-Fire called me over from his office laboratory, Adrianne told me she would wait.

Now let me tell you, over the month I had been here Farengar and I had become friends/mates. He sometimes allowed me to bring books on history back to Adrianne's. We both shared an interest in history, him for the joy of it while I learnt as much as I could.

Sure he could be annoying but only if you annoyed him. Once you got past that he was a pretty cool guy.

"What's up Farengar?" I asked as I walked into his lab.

"I have something here that you might want to see!" he said as he beckoned me over to his table. "An explorer brought it in for study!" Upon the table was a stone tablet with odd symbols etched upon it.

"What do you make off it?" He asked curiously.

His voice seemed far off, the words seemed to call me, and as I craned my head closer they glowed blue and for the briefest seconds seemed alive. And then it stopped.

"I, I uh don't know... Looks like squiggles to me." I told him, shocked at what had happened.

"Oh, well I thought someone might know, never mind." he told me, "I have a contact who might know something."

"I hope you succeed!" I said as I patted him on the back and explained that I was going to my new house. He congratulated me and said farewell.

I then met with Adrianne outside the lab and we made our way for the doors.

...Rrrrooooaaaarrrr...

Huh?

...Rrrrooooaaaarrrr...

"What was that?" I asked Adrianne as we were nearly to the door that would open to Whitrun. She shrugged her shoulders, not knowing either.

Rrrrooooaaaarrrr!

One of the guards on, uh... guard at the door went to a window to look outside, but instead of going back to his post he leapt back from the window.

"Dragon!" He yelled out in undeniable fear.

"YOL TOOR SHUL!" An unearthly voice similar to Alduin's shouted from outside.

"Oh Shit..." I whispered as the massive doors were blown off their hinges in a blast of fire and straight towards us.

I quickly jumped without thinking and my arms grabbed Adrianne. We both dived towards the floor as the doors flew over us. We barely made it to safety; the same couldn't be said for the second guard who was standing watch at the door.

"You ok?" I asked as I helped her up.

She nodded her head to confirm she was ok; she looked winded from me falling on top of her.

I helped her up towards the throne of the Jarl, Proventus thankfully meeting me halfway. We then combined efforts and climbed up the stairs to the room we were in previously. I explained what had happened as I helped Adrianne onto a chair.

"A dragon you say!" The steward cried. "How can we stop such a creature?"

"I don't know, but we need to rally the guards, the townsfolk, anybody who can wield a sword or use a bow!" I said him, "We need to eliminate it or at least drive it back, who knows what kind of damage this bloody thing could do?"

This feels strange, a month or so ago I would have been cowering in the corner of a room, now I'm completely different, taking charge and ready to kill, but still nervous. I guess being in Skyrim does change you.

"I'll go to the barracks and get them...!"

"No!" I yelled at him, wow when did I become this authoritative? "Your priority is to protect the Jarl, his kids but most off all Adrianne! She's in no condition to fight at the moment!"

He looked like he was about to object but one look at his daughter and he realised what he had to do, "I'll go and rally them all!" I told him as I sprinted towards the stairs.

I made it outside, the sky was filled with a large number of fluffy clouds and was relatively warm. It would have been a nice day, if not for the dragon.

The dragon was flying around, shooting fire down at the massing panicking crowd.

This dragon was not like the ones in stories, it was brown in colour with scales and leather like wings along with a long tail. And instead of four legs it only had two.

In short, it was fucking scary.

Several houses were already on fire, but were quickly put out by the town people and Farengar Secret-Fire, who was using a frost spell to counter the flames. Would of thought he would be ecstatic at meeting a dragon face to face.

I made it down the steps to the Wind District and round a few brave guards already fighting the menace with bows; I grabbed an unused shield and mace from a guard and ran throughout the Wind and Plain Districts, banging the shield and mace to get people's attention. Repeating the same message to those who calmed enough to listen.

"I want every man, every woman who can wield a weapon out here now! We are fighting for Whiterun! For the glory of being the first to fight a dragon in countless millennia!" I cried out, desperate to rally resistance to the beast above, "But most of all we do this for each other, for friends and family!"

As I ran I heard the cheers from the townsfolk, cries of battle were screamed out as the men got swords, armour. While the women got bows, daggers and cooking pans?

That dragon better beware, a women with a cooking pan is a force to be reckoned with!

But as I listened to the cries of battle I realised I had condemned some men and women to death. What had I done?

I need to end this quickly!

I ran off towards the Wind District, and as I got to the Gildergreen I witnessed several of the Companions emerge. Aela already mounting an assault with a bow while the others like Farkas and Vikas were readying there greatswords. Ready for when it came down.

I ran around the old tree and climbed to Dragonsreach. If it would go low enough my crazy plan could just work...

I quickly got to the top of the steps and waited, but shot with my crossbow to contribute to battle, the only ones I could see dead was a guard or two and a homeless guy who kept asking me to steal him a drink, even though he was a drunk and rude no one deserved to die by fire.

After a while the dragon swooped down to try and grab the Talos preacher, but missed and pulled up to mount another assault.

That was when I made my move.

I threw the crossbow to the side, not having time to put it back in its strap. I quickly unsheathed my two steel daggers and jumped of the steps just as the dragon came swooping underneath.

I angled my daggers downwards as I too fell in that direction, just as impact with the stone floor seemed a real possibility I heard a screech of pain and a feeling of vertigo overtake me.

I opened my eyes I didn't know I had closed to see gritty brown scales and both daggers plunged deep into the flesh, partially coating me and it in its blood. That's just nasty!

The dragon roared and spoke, "Faas hir hokoron Dovahkiin!" It screamed at me, what language was that? What was a Dovahkiin?

I pulled out one of the daggers as he flew (I'm guessing it was a he) and stabbed him again.

"You will not win! Alduin will destroy you all!" The Dragon spoke in English this time.

"Like hell he will!" I responded as I stabbed him again.

The dragon had stopped his assault on the town, and instead started to try and throw me off his back. He repeatedly tried to buck me off and spun, but I held on tight.

Then he began to climb, higher and higher into the sky. Numbness crept up my body as we climbed higher and higher.

It was getting cold now... And what's that?

Little pieces of frost was starting to form on my hands, arms even my weapons, wait he's trying to freeze me off! Like a wart...

Sometimes I hate myself for thinking these things!

We were still climbing, above the cloud line now, and as a break came in the cloud I saw Skyrim, it was beautiful...

And that was when I let go if my daggers due to numbness, and fell into a sea of black...

I awoke to what felt like a million needles being pushed into my face, I opened my eyes and nearly cried out, I was falling!

I then instantly remembered what had happened, the dragon had frozen me off its back, and I was now falling to my death.

I continued to fall and began to stop myself from flailing about; I spread my arms out and attempted to do what skydivers did.

I then noticed Whiterun down below, battle had resumed and the dragon was now breathing fire everywhere. How did he get down there so fast?

I fell even further and several people had noticed my falling form. Pointing up in amazement as I fell faster. Great, people gawking at me as I fell to my doom was not how I wanted to go...

But did I really have to die?

Ok, the plan in my head is way more messed up and crazier than the last, well, here goes nothing.

I angled my descent so I became more streamlined making me go faster towards the ground. I then started turning my descent towards the slow moving dragon.

My two daggers were now gone, so was my crossbow. And my hidden blade would do no good; it wouldn't be capable of keeping me on the dragon.

I activated my sparks power and fell further; thankfully and unexpectedly my sparks slowed me down slightly like Cole from InFamous. But unlike him I wasn't superhuman; I would still break my legs when I hit the ground.

I eventually closed in on my target and hit the dragon with a thud and a crack. I had thankfully managed to grab hold of some scales, but in the process I had broken something...

"Shit that hurt!" I cried out in pain. Damn I feel like I broke a rib... Crap...

The dragon flapped his wings and attempted to shake me off again, I upped my sparks and shot them throughout his body.

"Dovah's are the higher beings, higher then muz!" the Dragon shouted at me.

He began his assault on the town again despite my electric attack on him. This should have been super effective!

Then the dragon made a very big mistake.

He had shot flames at my house, my new house! The flames quickly caught, only to be put out by Farengar Secret-Fire.

But that didn't calm me, I upped my sparks spell and quickly let loose, "That was my house, you son of a bitch!" I roared at him.

The sparks turned into a full on light show, as it arced of his body, a smell of burnt flesh came from the dragons tough leathery skin.

He began to spiral out of control, quickly heading towards the plains just outside Whiterun. I grabbed onto another scale close to his head, with great difficulty I activated my hidden blade and sunk it into his head.

A roar of pain filled my ears as we both fell onto the plains. I jumped off just as he skidded along the grass. I impacted the floor and grunted as I landed on my stomach.

Yeah defiantly broke something!

I attempted to get up, but quickly fell to the ground again, I then remembered my healing spell and activated that. I felt many cuts and bruises heal, and then my broken rib went back into place with a loud crack.

"Ugh!" I grunted as my rib fully healed, I then started laughing as I realised the dragon had stopped moving and breathing. "Good, it's dead." I muttered to myself.

I looked up as I was still on the ground, and saw several guards and Companions make their way over. Adrianne, her husband and father were also coming over along with  
>Balgruuf the Greater.<p>

I had expected them to come over and help me up, as I was still injured. But they just stood there and stared at the dragon.

A crackling sound filled the air and I turned my head to see a thing which made me speechless.

The beast seemed to be on fire, the skin slowly flaked off and floated away into nothingness, leaving its skeleton form behind. Then a strange aura radiated from the dragon, orange in colour. It hung in the air, and then shot towards me.

Feeling to tired to try anything I simply let the aura go into me. When it finally stopped I looked to the others in confusion.

Balgruuf was the one to speak first, "You... Your, your Dragonborn!" He stuttered.

"What's that?" I asked as Ulfberth helped me up.

"A Dragonborn has the inborn ability to use the Thu'um; they slay dragons, steal their power and use it to shout." He explained.

After a realisation hit me and the crowd a guard yelled "Prove it! Shout!"

Ulfberth stepped back, giving me room as if expecting something, how could I use the Thu'um? How could I be Dragonborn?

But the more I thought about it, the more those strange runes surfaced in my mind. I closed my eyes and replayed the memory in my head, and when the runes glowed blue I knew what I had to do.

I opened my eyes and shouted the word that I had somehow translated from the runes.

"**FUS**!" I shouted, a blue force shot from my mouth, over the heads of the crowd before blinking out of existence.

Mutterings overtook the crowd, the bit I could catch was, "...So it's true..."

Balgruuf walked up to me and shook my hand, "I name you Thane of Whiterun, it is a great privilege to be a Thane, you can select a suitable badge of office from my armoury later on." He informed me, he then whispered so no one else could hear, "Wouldn't want you to be mistaken as part of the common rabble now would we?"

I could only smile as he told me this, the euphoria of being Dragonborn and a Thane in less than ten minutes was too much.

**A/N- So another chapter and my longest at that! I hope you enjoyed it.  
>Remember to review, point out the things you enjoyed, ideas or how I could improve.<strong>

**I'm finally back after a very nice break in America, jet lags a bitch though.**

**Translations of Dragon Language:**

**Faas hir hokoron Dovahkiin!- Fear your enemy Dragonborn!**

**Dovah-Dragon**

**Muz-Men**


	8. Update

**Update**

A bit of updates, so I'll answer stuff now before my inbox is flooded with PM's.

I have attempted to create a cover, hope it works out.

I have also changed the name to a more inventive one as Skyrim SI was bland.

I have edited the bio of this fanfic as well.

And in response to reviewers, (Taken from upcoming chapter).

**Thanks to Wertmon505 for reviewing, I answered your question via PM.**

**Silverfireneko, thanks for the double review, I once got one of the Dragon Priests that way... Many lols were had that day. And about the references, it's just my character.**

**And Unddenified never watched Tangled, so I made a reference I didn't know about. Now I feel silly... The dual daggers were stuck in the dragons back; Matthew didn't pull them out as he fell. AND about the 'adult' content, no. As stated at the start of this fic I upped my age to 18. I am currently below that age, also if you had noticed Fanfiction have removed fics with that content on their site. So no, sorry dude.**

**And Rydissac, glad you like it!**

This will be moved into the next chapter when it comes, which may be a while since I start work experience next week for 2 weeks... Ugh... The reason this will be added to the next chapter is because I despise it when a notice is left up as a chapter, making the fic seem longer then it is, just annoys me.


	9. The Return

**Rise from Ashes **

**Chapter 8.1**

**The Return**

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><p><strong>AN I thought of doing reboots of this, but I realised it had something good in it as it got 29 reviews, which is a lot to me. But I realised the chapter was the problem so I decided to rewrite chapter 8 and this is the result.**

**Thanks to all those who reviewed during the time I was gone. I won't respond to all of you in this chapter as there are so many!**

**Thanks to:**

**EVERYONE**

**Influenced by many of the games I play…**

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><p>I was now in a cluster of trees near the city walls of Whiterun; my vantage point from the tree provided a fantastic view of the plains and its wildlife. But even from this distance I could still see the ugly battle scars present on Whiterun's visage. The bones of the Dragon had been cleared away on the plains to reveal dry and cracked ground, when I absorbed its soul it must have left that as a result.<p>

I shook my head clearing my thought as I looked over to the next tree… My thought going back to the last few days...

* * *

><p>…<p>

The defeat of the Dragon and my following acquirement of the Thane title, even days later left me reeling. To think within a few months of being here I had become a Thane, which is considered to be quite important here. Along with my new title I had gained my badge of office, two in fact. An Eleven Short sword and Dagger replica from the period that Oblivion was set, both weapons worked well and were balanced evenly in my hands. The Jarl was reluctant to relinquish the weapons to me, but he hated to see weapons gathering dust and eventually gave them to me.

He also gave me several rare Refined Moonstone ingots with a small variety of others so I could try my hand at crafting better equipment. With Adrianne's assistance of course.

But of course all of the good events always come with bad ones, what had happened wasn't bad but strange to handle with…

* * *

><p><em>(Flashback)<em>

_Hi," I greeted her with a smile. "And you are?"_

"_I am Lydia," She said in answer to my question. "The Jarl has appointed me to be your Housecarl; I am your sword and your shield." She said somewhat unenthusiastically. _

_I smiled slightly and excused myself as I dodged through the small crowd to the Jarl, who was currently unoccupied._

"_My Jarl?" I said rather rudely, he turned to me with an amused look in his eyes. "A moment, please!?"_

"_What is it?" He asked me, but by the amused look in his eyes he already knew what my question was. _

_Grrr... Stupid Nord humour..._

"_You gave me a Housecarl." I told him, his amused look growing even more by the minute. "Do you really think I'm ready for something like that?!" I said without thinking._

_Balgruuf couldn't contain his smirk. God damn it!_

"_You were ready to be Thane, and it is customary for a Thane to have a Housecarl" He reasoned, still with that stupid smirk stuck to his face. _

_(End Flashback)_

* * *

><p>Lydia was something I could honestly say I was not expecting! She had moved into my house and now slept in the room across the hall on the upper floor. She was basically my full time mercenary and acted like one as well, she had ran head first into a bandit gang I had been asked to clear out on the plains and it damn well nearly cost her life in the process.<p>

Thankfully since then we had not been needed outside the walls which meant no insta-kills on the Housecarl.

But something which puzzled me even now was the Greybeards. The Jarl had told me that he was surprised that they had not called for me, and by call he meant shouting from the very top of a mountain just to get my attention. And my first thought to that was why they didn't just use a courier service to get to me.

Cheeking my guide, (for any who forget it's on one of my possessions from back home, my IPod) revealed the moment the Dragon was killed the men on top of the mountain would call. Although according to the guide the Dragon was supposed to attack the Western Watchtower. Not the town itself.

Looking throughout the guide more thoroughly revealed my deepest fears; it basically told me of the main events among other things but never mentioned the time period it took place. And even if everything mentioned in the guide happened as it did, any outside stimuli such as my actions or any others might completely change the situation.

But thinking back to the day of the attack, the news of other dragon attack on Helgan. The guide mentioned briefly about the escape of the main protagonist and leader of the Stormcloaks… Which led to my next question, was this escapee Dragonborn as well? And was another attack going to befall Whiterun?

Moving on from my crappy thoughts, the people of Whiterun continually thanked me for rallying them and giving them hope. Many giving tokens of their appreciation in the forms of a few Septims (which I tried to refuse) or verbal thanks. Adrianne and Ulfberth thankfully treated me as they did before, which I was grateful for. I was glad to be treated like a friend then the warrior who was a Dragonborn.

Furthermore the Companions, most of them save a few tolerated me before now held actual respect for me now, my teacher Aela even said I could join her in some hunts and even do the odd job or two if I wanted to for the Companions.

That hunting offer was what led me to being in a tree in the plains; Aela was currently in the bushes below sneaking up upon a nearby deer that was grazing on the lush grass. I was acting as her scout, spotting any animals which would then fall prey to the Huntress. She would often look up to my position for any change and if I needed to get her attention I would whistle and then explain the situation with hand movements.

She finally got as close to the deer as possible, she looked up to me and nodded. Her way of telling me she was ready to strike. I nodded back and she leapt out of her hiding place with a speed which rivalled that of a Cheetah. Almost with an un-human speed…

Her Skyforge Steel Dagger became buried in the deer's neck, very little blood coming from the wound as it bleated in surprise and fell to the ground, it struggled briefly, clutching onto its rather simple life before it too its last breath and finally became still.

Aela quietly removed the dagger from her victim and dragged it into her hiding place, preventing any other animals from spotting it. Even though their superior sense of smell would alert them of the danger the lack of sight would confuse them long enough for us to strike.

I surveyed the area as Aela began her work of harvesting the furs and other things from the deer, in the distance I spotted another deer and quickly scanned the distance between me and it, judging it to be too far to jump…

Looking up from the branch in the root I was currently in showed another fork in one of the upper branches. I hopped to the right in the tree before kicking off to grab onto the fork in the upper branch, I pulled myself up and without any rest I leapt the distance to the deer, just managing to get to it.

Unfortunately I had misjudged the distance and my hidden blade only scraped its neck, it bucked me off and attempted to attack me with it horns. Only just realising my mistake I composed myself and grabbed its antlers, fending it off from charging me. I wouldn't be able to hold it off much longer but the scary salvation in the form of an arrow saved me from being speared by the deer. I looked to see Aela, who nodded at me as I brought my kill (sort of) to the floor slowly.

Recovering I made my way over to Aela with my catch as she finished skinning her catch. She looked up and me as she sheathed her knife. "You should be more careful next time." She scorned.

"Yeah, thanks by the way." I responded as I got my dagger out ready to skin my deer.

"What for?" She asked with a frown.

I smiled at that, "For the arrow, might have been skewered if not."

Her frown ceased, "It was no problem, you are a friend and Shield-Brother to me." She told me, her tone of voice not sounding at all confused now.

"Even though I'm not a Companion you see me as a Shield Brother?" I asked, surprised at what she had told me.

"Any friend of mine whose fighting skills are of a high calibre is" She said.

I chuckled, "I'm honoured."

I nodded my head at this, getting ready for her to help and teach me how to skin an animal to get the best amount of pelts and meat from it. But instead she asked me another question.

"How's Lydia then?" She asked with a slight smirk.

Oh boy... Here we go...

As I mentioned before Lydia was very nearly killed but to make things even worse was the fact our fighting styles did not match in the slightest. Her approach to a fight was to run in head first with no thinking, get nearly killed instantly and then proceed to swipe and bash her way to victory with her sword and shield.

It had stressed me out to no end that day on the plains, and even though I was no stranger to adrenaline but the amount that had pumped through me that day was overwhelming.

"Matthew?" My hunting companion asked with a hint of concern.

I shook my head; did I really just go on a tangent in my head in real time? Oh geez I did didn't I?

"Sorry, went on a bit of a ramble in my head, you were saying?" I explained until I remembered why I had gone on a ramble. "Oh yeah Lydia! She's fine, although she's under house arrest until she promises not to charge into battle like she did again!" I joked, I was quite close to Aela, considering her like a sister in this strange world I now lived in.

She smiled briefly, "Good, I've known her for a while, ever since she started to train to become a House Carl." She said, "She was always like that, the few times we spared she nearly managed to take me down with brute strength, but we both know that isn't all it takes."

"But it certainly helps!" I said as I got down on the floor, ready to skin the deer. Almost immediately she corrected the way I held the dagger, saying this new position was the most optimum one when skinning.

…

Geez that was icky, very icky. But I now know how to skin an animal, which should give me some extra money when I go hunting again.

The both of us were making our way back to Whiterun and were almost clear of the trees, and onto the plains. Aela was once again below walking casually as she was no longer hunting while I was practicing my free running, which when I thought about it I would need to survive. It would benefit my tactic of striking fast and furious with a hint of surprise mixed in.

The trees finally opened up to the tundra landscape, Whiterun was maybe a 5 minute walk while the closest area which was inhabited was Pelagia Farm which was about a minutes' walk away. Squinting I could make out the figures of Farkas and Ria weapons drawn for some odd reason. I scoured the landscape and caught side of a massive lumbering figure, which if it wasn't moving I could mistake for a marsh tree.

The creature swung its arm and it narrowly missed the veteran and recruit, hitting the ground with what looked like a massive club. Then a tremor occurred and I realised what could do that.

"What the hell is a giant doing so close to Whiterun!?" I asked, half bewildered as I looked on.

"Why do you think Whiterun has become so diminished over the years? It's not just the Civil War it's these brutes as well!" Aela exclaimed as she took her bow off her back and readied an arrow.

"Right, well let's take this beast down!" I said as I too took my crossbow off my back and notched a bolt and we both began our run to the battle.

Due to our swift speed over the easily traversable terrain we got to the farm in about 30 seconds, Aela and myself let our first attack loose, her arrow hit it in the chest but it bounced off its thick skin, my bolt hit its mark too in its neck which barely embedded itself. The hellish creature barely flinched at the attack and instead focused its next assault directly on us.

The Huntress Companion rolled to the left out of the incoming attack in quite the professional manner while I attempted to follow suit. But compared to the women who had trained for years and years my dodge was rather clumsy, as a result the attack I had sought to avoid made me stumble as the tremor of the club hit.

Despite the intense training I now had under my belt I still messed up on occasion, but thankfully this mistake was relatively easy to rectify as the stumble I had round myself in turned into another roll.

All four of us, Farkas, Ria, Aela and myself attacked with our weapons. Farkas's heavy weapon being the most effective piercing the giant's knee. Ria's was the next best as she stabbed at it several times. Aela's arrows were still ineffective but she dared not switch to her dagger as it meant she would be in close, and with her light armour that wasn't a good idea.

I chose the same tactic Aela was using, and it was getting us nowhere. The fight dragged on for several minutes, and I proposed a near suicidal tactic to my friend. "Aela" I called as we dodged another attack, "Gimme a boost!"

She nodded and got into position, I ran as fast as I could until my foot connected with her hands which propelled me into the air. But Aela's strength was too much and I soared over the giants head, but I managed to stretch my arm out and slashed at the giant's neck with my dagger. I landed in a heap on the floor, unprepared for my landing. The giant roared in pain and it turned to face me, knocking the Companions attack off like a measly fly.

I rolled over onto my back and scampered away as it roared again and raised its club, ready to bring it down upon me. I tried to roll but found I had done some damage in the fall, and it hurt too much to move much.

I closed my eyes, readying myself for the inevitable. But it never came…

I opened one of my eyes slightly expecting the giant to be waiting for me to look it in the eyes before dying. But instead I saw a Greatsword being thrust into its stomach; its eyes were no longer filled with an infernal hatred but a stone coldness. The person who had killed the giant pulled the Greatsword out and the creature fell to its side, dead.

I activated my healing spell and slowly got up on shaky feet, turning around as I sheathed my dagger to find out who the person was that had saved me.

I was surprised to see a woman in a full set of Orchish armour, excluding helmet put her Orchish Greatsword back onto the back plate of her armour. She looked to be in her early twenties, with blue eyes and surprising medium length silver hair despite her being an Imperial. I had never seen women in heavy armour before, and she carried herself with pride but appeared to be hiding any feelings under an emotional façade.

"Thanks," I said as I held out my hand for a handshake, which she reluctantly took. It was a strong handshake, which I assumed was good.

"You're welcome" She told me as she looked towards Dragonsreach, "I'm sorry, but I have essential news for the Jarl, It must reach him immediately!"

"What's so important?" I asked, her emotional mask slipping slightly to reveal a distressed look, what the hell happened?

"I am… I mean was…" A tear formed in her eye, "Commander of Helgan."

My eyes widened and so did the others who had just gathered around, I steeled myself and went into Thane-Mode as I called it. "Follow me, we're going to Dragonsreach!" I said as I turned around and started

"And why should I follow you?" She asked, good question. It's literally unheard of a person my age being Thane.

I turned to face her, giving her my best intimidating look and told her, "I am Thane of this Hold, and one of your only hopes of getting into the city. It's in lockdown since the Dragon attack!"

Her eyes widened at what I said, either at the fact I was Thane, that the city was attacked and in lockdown or both I did not know.

She just nodded at this and I turned towards Whiterun, knowing she would follow.

* * *

><p><strong>AN Link to AC wiki, to show what Matthew's robes will look like, just imagine the red replaced by green. Both are at the bottom of the page as images and are early concepts. Hope it works and remember to remove the spaces!**

** assassinscreed . wikia wiki / Assassin's_Creed_III_outfits**

**Due to Exam revision taking up most of my time updates may be slow or may not happen at all for a couple of months.**

**Update- Thanks to my first reviewer for this chapter, Older than Time for pointing out my error, I've fixed it now.**


	10. Update 2

**Update**

As stated in previous chapters my exams are on and I am revising as much as I can, half term breaks coming up so I should be able to post a new chapter. I've already got a small amount of it written, but I've arrived at to the part in the story where I've got to take note of the conversations.

Also Dragonborn finally came out this week for PS3 and at half price so I am thoroughly enjoying it. I will eventually include dlc's in the story.

To those asking if Hildr is the Cannon Dragonborn, the answer is both yes and no. She is Dragonborn, but I'll be adding in other twists as I go, which I will not reveal in an update! I feel bad that I have to answer your questions this way and not in a story.

To the anon reviewer, I'm glad you're enjoying this but you must realise I cannot devote too much time to this at the moment as I have other responsibilities.

And to the other anon from Texas, I am in fact British.

And to Beserkians fury, I'm not too sure about a romance yet.

Anyway, Update over. Hope to post soon.


	11. Outing

**Rise from Ashes  
>Chapter 9<strong>

**Outing **

**Got first set of Exam Results, all the subjects I needed my C in I got, and thankfully none of the others dropped below D's. Anyway new chapter! Enjoy! And sorry for any confusion in previous chapters, Matthew robes are black in colour with white on the edges.**

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><p>I quickly explained the situation to the guards, who were wary to let someone from the outside inside the city. Thankfully Cauis was on his shift and allowed us in with no problem. As we walked through town the Companions broke off and returned to their mead hall wishing us the best of luck.<p>

When they were finally out of earshot, the women from Helgan muttered, "Over-glorified sell swords…"

I sighed as we got to the steps of Dragonsreach, "Don't judge a book by its cover, their good people." I reasoned.

"I suppose…" She responded, "I'm sorry for my behaviour earlier."

"Don't worry, I understand." I told her as we got halfway up the steps.  
>She frowned at me after I said that, "How so?"<p>

"Bout a month and a half since my village was destroyed by fire, a bandit attack." I told her as we got to the top of the flight of stairs. "No survivors." I semi-lied to her, I never truly knew any one from the village, but being near dead and seeing other dead people near me for the first time was traumatic.

"I'm sorry; Helgan was, well…" She trailed off and quickly changed subject, "You say you have experiences with the dragons, how did you stop it?" She asked, avoiding going into detail about Helgan. It was probably still fresh in her mind.

"Long story," I chuckled despite the ebbing tension between us. "Jumped from down there onto its back." I pointed down the steps, "But it threw me off, I got back on and it went down on the plains…"

"You mean that charred area on the plains?" She asked surprised, "Shor's bones, how was it moved?"

"Well, it was only bones at the end, how do I explain this?" I told her, "You're familiar with the Nord legends?"

She nodded, as we reached the massive doors to Dragonsreach, "I caught bits and pieces from the townsfolk at Helgan. Why?"

"There are certain individuals throughout the ages, known as Dragonborn. They can shout…" I stopped and looked at her questionably. "I assume you know what the Thu'um is?"

She merely nodded, her general body language giving me the impression she was indeed interested in what I had to say.

I continued on, "The Dragonborn has a natural mastery over the Thu'um, and can steal the souls of Dragons upon defeat to add to their knowledge. That's what happened down on the plains, I'm one of them."

She crossed her arms and leaned on one foot, arching her eyebrow, "Prove it!" She said which surprised me, and was a pleasant change. I was glad that I would have to argue my point across, and instead I could prove it.

I asked her to follow me to the edge of the battlements, where we were met by a fantastic view of the tundra plains, stretching on for miles upon miles. I took a deep breath, held it in for a second and let loose the piece of dragon language which I had learned from text the court wizard had shown me all those days ago.

"FUS!" The light blue wave of my voice spread out into the open, shooting forward above the tundra plains and creating a slight breeze. I breathed in again, not having shouted for a few days as I turned to my companion.

"I never caught your name." I informed her as she recomposed herself from her flabbergasted state. "I am Matthew Traust, Thane of Whiterun Hold, you?

"Hildr Stalious" She responded, "Glad to meet you,"

Looking past Hildr's striking features and surprising white hair I noticed a resemblance to the Imperials, which I thought was strange, as it was very rare for any other race excluding Nord's to be in charge of a town like Helgan.

"The same." I said as I came back to reality, we went to the doors once more and I pushed them open effortlessly, looking to the end of the room I spotted the Jarl on his throne. Deep in thought, this was strange as he usually just idled around when he wasn't doing anything.

"Jarl Balgruuf, the Commander of Helgan brings news of its demise." I said as we both climbed the small steps to his throne, I stepped to the side as she walked forward to the Jarl.

As the two settled into conversation I leaned against the nearby wall, hoping to get just a little bit comfortable for what I assumed would be a long discussion.

I listened in, the Jarl and Hilda mainly discussed the attack of Helgan, if any people survived. She mentioned a man from the Imperial Army who assisted her in the escape who now resided in Riverwood with the blacksmith, who was coincidently his Uncle.

She also mentioned the capture of the Stormcloak leader, Ulfric. And his escape with one of his personal guard.

"Strange how a dragon attacks just as the leader of the rebellion is captured," Balgruuf began, his words spinning the tale of a conspiracy theory.

I couldn't help but chuckle at what the Jarl was implying. "Ulfric in cahoots with the dragons, seriously?"

The Jarl only gave me a stern look in reply, "Uh, Jarl Balgruuf …"

"Anyway, take a piece of armour from the armoury for coming to inform me of Helgan's fate." He said, looking back at Hilda. "After that I would like you to speak to our Court Wizard, he would like some help with a matter he is researching."

She nodded, and I quickly moved from the wall and motioned towards one of the corridors which led to the Jarls armoury. I stole glances at Hildr, her features not radiating as much angst as she had previously; talking to the Jarl about Helgan was probably like a weight being lifted of her shoulders.

We eventually arrived at the door to the armoury, which had a Whiterun Guard posted outside in an effort to protect it. It seemed to be a pretty boring post and a pretty pointless one at that; sure it was protected from the people of Whiterun who would want access. But one guard was nothing against a fully fledged fighting force.

Recognising me he nodded his consent and opened the door allowing the both of us access. The armoury was the Jarl's very own, and it was considered a great gift to take a piece from it. Hildr scanned the many rows of equipment as I stood near the door, eventually her eyes landed upon the helmets, of which she pulled out an orcish one to complete her set. As she turned to leave the room she merely tucked it underneath her arm.

"I'll show you to our court wizard now," I told her as we walked out of the armoury, the guard from before taking his place once again at the door. "I'll warn you now, he's a little condescending."

"Ha!" Hildr laughed as we walked on, now climbing the steps to the Jarl's throne room. "Trust me I handled worse in Helgan!" Her smile briefly turned sour before she shook her head. "I apologise, it is still fresh in my mind."

"Don't start, it's expected. You'd be a monster if you shrugged it off like it was nothing." I assured her, to which she smiled slightly.

"What side is the Jarl on, in the war I mean?" She asked suddenly.

"I can assume you're on the Empire's side?" I asked rather coldly, I like Farengar Secret-Fire treated the war with distaste. I understood the Stormclocks were fighting for their freedom to worship Talo's. And that the Empire was fighting because of that god-damned treaty.

Ulfric was fighting for the cause, but some seemed blinded to the fact that the entire war could be an ulterior motive to crown himself high-king of all of Skyrim. And what would stop him from taking the throne and becoming Emperor of all of Tamriel?

Hildr looked at me strangely and I continued, "I don't agree with the war, I wouldn't take either side as both have problems. Ulfric may be using this as an excuse for the throne and the Empire is doing this because of the White-Gold Concordat!"

Those words hit her like a ton of bricks, obviously not so used to someone expressing their views so openly.

I continued, "As for Jarl Balgruuf, he's on Whiterun's side."

The former Commander of Helgan was still flabbergasted but managed to stutter a few words, "What do you mean?"

"He is neutral, as am I." I clarified. "But he is afraid that General Tullius will call in some sort of favour, or that Ulfric will say it is for the honour of Skyrim and all Nords."

"I understand that, but his fears may come true. He will eventually have to pick a side." She supposed, "Everyone does eventually…"

Our conversation ended at that as we arrived at Farengar Secret-Fire's study, who was reading one of his many tomes. Upon seeing the both of us enter he carefully closed the delicate piece and gently setting it down upon his desk, a light sprinkling of dust being swept away in the process.

"Is there something you need?" He asked curiously as he got up from his chair.

"Yes, actually." Hildr replied, "The Jarl sent me here, said you had something that needed doing?"

"Ah yes my research on the Dragons, I could do with you fetching something for me." Farengar's tone of voice was not that of questioning, but was more of a command.

"That's quite strange; if you need something fetched surely one of the guards could do it?" I asked.

"Well, when I say fetch, I really mean delve into a dangerous ruin in search of an ancient stone tablet that may or may not be there." He quickly clarified. "Usually I would ask the Jarl to dispatch some guards to retrieve it for me, but due to the resurgence of the dragons that has become an impossibility."

"I can understand that; just tell me where to go and what I'm fetching." Hildr proposed.

The cogs started spinning wildly in my head, even though the Jarl had requested this of her. Agreeing so readily to this was strange without asking for details.

"Straight to the point, eh? No need for tedious how and whys. I like that…" He trailed off for a moment, giving me an inkling of a suspicion that he was going to continue and make a rude remark. But he held his tongue and continued.

"I, ah, learned of a certain stone tablet said to be housed in Bleak Falls Barrow. A 'Dragonstone', said to contain a map of dragon burial sites." He explained.

During the conversation I was idly staring into space but when he mentioned burial sites my head snapped up. A map to burial sites of the dragons?

"Bleak Falls Barrow holds this tablet, presumably in its very depths. Retrieve it for me. Simplicity itself."

"Anything we should know about this place?" I asked him.

"We, what do you mean?" Hildr asked me as she turned in my direction with one eyebrow arched.

"It's a map to burial mounds, of dragons. That would make anyone curious, but being what I am makes the situation all the more interesting. I'm coming because my curiosity's piqued."

Farengar then told me it was an Ancient Nordic ruin. Most possibly filled with Draugr, Tamriel's equivalent of zombies.

She nodded, and after saying farewell to Farengar we left his study. Hildr quickly pulled me aside. "What in the Eight are you doing?!"

"I do truly have an interest in that map, but you're also acting strange." I explained.

"Strange? You hardly know me!" She retorted, arms crossed.

"True, but no one accepts a job like that without details…"

"I knew about that place from the Imperial soldier I escaped with, and, I need to blow off steam…"

"Ok," I said as I nodded. By blowing off some steam she really meant chopping heads off the un-dead. "I'll be there, hopefully prevent you from being reckless."

"I won't be reck… Fine, we'll set out tomorrow; the barrow is a few hours away by foot, and probably a few more hours to clear it out. It's too late to go to it now." She suggested.

"A good idea," I said as I looked to the light seeping through to the room, the sunlight a lot less vibrant then it was earlier on in the day. "Do you have a place to stay?" I asked out of kindness, this kindness would probably result in me sleeping on the floor as Lydia wouldn't want to give up her bed.

"The Bannered Mare, those sort of inns are at a cheap price and I still have gold saved. We'll meet at the gates at 9:00am."

I sighed in relief, "Of course, if you need anything I live at Breezehome, that's the house between Warmaidens and the General Goods Store."

She nodded and we parted ways as we reached the bottom of the steps, signifying our departure from the Cloud District.

As I made my way home… Huh, my home… No stupid debt or mortgage or strings attached thank God. After my train of thought had derailed I realised I hadn't visited Adrianne and Ulfberth for a few days. I had obviously said hello in passing but never managed to have a proper chat with either of them. Even though I still had my job with her my recent duties and adjustments prevented me from working.

I walked past Breezehome and to Warmaidens, trying to spot Adrianne who would usually be leaning against a wooden beam when on a break. She wasn't there and her forge was very quiet so I entered the shop, knocking on the door to announce my presence.

Ulfberth was behind the counter, placing several of Adrianne's new pieces on for display while putting the lesser pieces such as iron into the back. His wife was currently having a late lunch at the table on the left, both looked to the door as I entered. I smiled and greeted the both of them who in turn greeted me in response.

After a general chat concerning each of their health, my outing the next day and other small chit chat, I mentioned my job.

"We understand, once you have your new duties under control you can come back," She assured me.

I gave a sigh of relief and asked about the business and how it was doing.

"Since the Dragon attack on Whiterun, we've seen a major rise in our sales. Mainly our basic stock such as iron and steel products. Some have even brought armour too," Adrianne clarified.

Ulfberth carried on, "Although we don't really know what armour can do under a sustained attack from dragons breath. Person wearing it would probably be melted right along with the armour!" He joked.

"Well, it's uh good the business is doing so well." I commented, rubbing the back of my head due to Ulfberth's awkward joke. Though it probably was true.

As we talked I realised I still had my Refined Moonstone stashed back at my house, if I purchased a couple of Quicksilver Ingots from Adrianne and used some of the leather I had when I brought the house I could craft some Elven armour.

After this epiphany I asked Adrianne if I could use the forge, she readily agreed and asked what I would be crafting.

"Elven armour, hopefully" I answered. "But the whole gold colour is a bit too glaring for my taste."

"I'll tell you what; you gather the pieces and bring them here. Then visit Arcadia's Cauldron, she may have a specialised dye of some sort, I haven't used that sort of thing much, I only got them from traders travelling through."

I nodded and got to work…

* * *

><p>Hours later just as the last pieces of light faded from the tundra plains, me and Adrianne finished off the new piece of armour. The pieces were shaped similar to my leather armour, but what set it out was its colour. Its greyish white would contrast well with my black with white tinted robes. In the end Arcadia had provided a specialised dye made of Nirnroot and combining that during the process gave it its unique colour. I was pleased, and knew this armour would last a long time.<p>

I thanked Adrianne and paid her the gold needed for the purchase of the Quicksilver Ingots, once I made sure it all fitted I said farewell to Adrianne and Ulfberth as they made their way to the Bannered Mare for dinner.

I cooked myself and Lydia a small dinner and then went to bed, knowing I needed the energy for tomorrows expedition into Bleak Falls Barrow's…

* * *

><p>Later into the night I jolted awake, and cheeked my iPod out of habit. Thankfully the time staying true even in this universe, seeing it as nearing midnight I travelled downstairs and slipped outside to get myself some fresh air. Minutes later I saw movement to the left to see a shape that strongly resembled Hildr, still in her heavy armour trudging back to the Bannered Mare from the direction of the Cloud District, carrying an extra sword in her arms, a long yet thin Long sword that strongly resembled a katana of some sort.<p>

Strange, better ask about it tomorrow…


End file.
